In my group of friends one person always throws the Super Bowl party. She explicitly states it starts at 5:30, but come when you want, and leave when you want. I'm usually there on time, but I think last year was the first year I stayed until the end, and I've been going for close to 8 years.

I think it depends upon the type of party and the hosts' expectations.

Many Super Bowl parties are drop-in-and-out kinds of things. But not all are. If you are one of four people, that's very different from one of 25. The hosts of a smaller group might not care, but some might.

Some days, e.g. New Year's Eve and Halloween, are times when people are likely to be invited to more than one party, and therefore hosts often make them open-house types of events, because they don't want to make their guests have to choose. In such cases, hosts don't seem to mind getting a 1/2-acceptance -- (although I always try somehow to make all the hosts feel that I'd really rather be at THEIR party all evening, but I "have to" drop in elsewhere, too.) Two of our friends both always have Halloween parties the Saturday night before (or of) Halloween. They both know it and understand that their many mutual friends will go to both (and one couple even sometimes comes to the end of the other party). Unless it's something like a restaurant reservation or a dinner party, I think that hosts would be kind of unrealistic to expect that people won't be going to other parties besides theirs on those two nights especially, and also often Fourth of July and high school graduation season, when, in our community, lots of grads' families have casual backyard open house parties for the whole class and their parents, so there are usually more than one each evening, and everyone just sort of makes the circuit.

Super Bowl Sunday seems to me to be kind of on the line. I wouldn't mind getting a 1/2 acceptance. But your friends did mind, right? And I can't say they were unreasonable. Because although the official invitation didn't come until after you received and accepted another invitation, it sounds, if I am understanding correctly, that the time, date, and the fact that you would be invited were already pretty clear. So from their point of view, it might well feel like you had plans with them, and then something you preferred came up, so you're ditching them for half their party.

The point is, it could go either way, and the important factor here isn't which rule applies -- it's how they feel about it. That you cannot control, nor is it subject to rules about Super Bowl parties.

It still doesn't mean that you can't go to both parties. But you might want to think about how you communicate it to them. Don't be cavalier or make them feel like they are wrong if they are hurt. Don't say self-justifying things like "Well, Super Bowl parties are usually open house style" or "You don't mind, do you?" Let THEM be the gracious ones and tell you it's fine if they come for 1/2 their party -- don't YOU tell THEM. If they are hurt or offended, don't try to argue that you were right, just apologize for the misunderstanding and don't do it again.

Superbowl, Halloween and NYE parties tend to be like this in my circle, and I'm always flattered when people choose to make mine the last stop. Cuz that's usually when all the excitement is happening. Well, end of game and midnight. But at my Halloween Party is when we've all had a few jello shots and have gotten extra giggly

As for why the Host was a little hurt: This is our last year of school and after this we are all moving to different states. She probably won't have the opportunity to host all of us at once before we graduate. For the most part, this group of friends has been hanging out since the beginning of our first year of school and we've always watched the Game together & no one split the party with another party. I think because it was a regular event to have amongst these friends, Host figured that by letting everyone know that she would like to host (she was talking about this last semester too, not just this one) and getting agreement from everyone that the agreement counted like a "Yes" to the invitation with details about it to follow. She texted me this morning wondering if she should count them in the numbers for dinner or not. I didn't really know if she should or shouldn't to be honest so I wasn't much help on that.

Yesterday I was chatting with the couple who is splitting the night, Todd and Jenny, before class and they mentioned to me that the person whose party they were attending first was making a fuss to them about them leaving half way & saying that they should stay for half time at the very least. They told me that they told him that they appreciated the invitation, but there was no way they were going to miss going to Host's party altogether and will be leaving just before the end of the second quarter. I am considering passing that along to Host (the part about them really wanting to go to her party) so that if she is still a little hurt, she'll feel better about it.

gellchom, I'm not sure if your "you"s were general or specific to me, but I am neither guest nor host. I was just there when the RSVP happened and the Host mentioned to me that it had bothered her.

Superbowl, Halloween and NYE parties tend to be like this in my circle, and I'm always flattered when people choose to make mine the last stop. Cuz that's usually when all the excitement is happening. Well, end of game and midnight. But at my Halloween Party is when we've all had a few jello shots and have gotten extra giggly

Yeah, I was going to say something like this. If you are the type of person who doesn't like party hoppers coming and going when you give a party, then don't have a party on a night where lots of parties naturally occur. Super Bowl, Halloween and New Year's Eve are specific examples. I learned this a long time ago when I gave a Halloween party. Much to my disappointment, the people who came mostly only stayed a very short while. I realized it wasn't a personal affront because heck, if I'd gotten multiple invitations for parties on the same night like that, I'd probably have done the same thing. But I didn't like the idea of hosting a party with those results.

Of course, any night you give a party, it's probable some won't be able to come at all, and possible some will have more than one event and only stop by for a while. It still happens all the time. The difference is that it's just one or two guests, as opposed to the majority of them.

As far as your friend, is she sure that the guests who are coming for the second half received her invitation or notice of having the party, first? They may have gotten notice of the other party first and figured they could do both. Another question, what if they'd spoken up at the time your friend first mentioned the party. Would your friend not have had the party based on their inability to attend?

Conclusion: It's normal, especially on a night like Super Bowl and your friend should not take it personally. I don't think the "half" guests are being rude.

Nyachan, it sounds as if your host friends treated the Super Bowl event in a very casual way and then got hurt and upset when others did too. (issuing verbal invites, for one, that's pretty casual to me but pretty standard when it comes to SB)

Also, "not sure whether to count them in for the meal?" Is it a sit down dinner? If not, who doesn't love leftovers, esp after half-time?

I really think your friend is making a bit more out of this than need be. SB is typically a casual group of friends getting together to watch a football game, eating in front of the TV. And the food isn't 5-star either...we are talking wings, fries, hamburgers, dips, chips, etc.

Now, unless you are talking about a sit down dinner, they are in the clear as far as I'm concerned.

Host wasn't freaking out or anything, the only reason this is even posted was because I was curious, I promise! She hasn't mentioned it again since the text - which also included general questions about cooking and serving, so not just about this - but if the event comes up in conversation, I might mention that everyone, including Todd and Jenny, were saying they were excited to come & not planning on being at school the next day if you catch my drift. The reason the numbers came up is because she thought she would need to borrow a bigger crockpot for the main dish if there were more people coming.